Druglord El Chapo's incredible life

Is there anything more thrilling for the everyman than a glimpse into the life of a notorious druglord? With the popularity of shows like Narcos, it seems not. Now, *Narcos *director Chris Brancato is already itching to delve into the life of yet another druglord. This time, El Chapo – real name Joaquin Guzman. The new programme, to be called Cartel, is being developed by cable TV channel, History.

To get you in the know ahead of this hot new series, read the incredible life of druglord El Chapo.

1957: El Chapo

Mexico's most notorious druglord is born into a poor family in a rural area of La Tuna in Sinaloa, Mexico. He got a taste for narcotics from a young age – his father was rumoured to have been an opium farmer on the sly, his day job being a cattle farmer. At home, he is often beaten by his father, protects his sisters from being beaten and receives emotional support from his mother. His mother has been described as "the only one who can change one of his decisions with a word." During his adolescence, Guzman earns himself the nickname El Chapo, Mexican slang for 'shorty.' (He was five foot six inches, and was stocky in build.)

1960s: El Chapo starts marijuana farm

El Chapo drops out of school and starts his own marijuana plantation with four distant cousins, and earns enough from it to support his family financially. Eventually his father kicks him out of the house, so he goes to live with his grandfather. Following that, he leaves his hometown in search of greater opportunities – organised crime.

1970s: El Chapo's drug mule years

El Chapo is the mule from Sierra to major Mexican cities and the border. He develops a rep for being a ruthless man that won't hesitate to kill over a late drug shipment.

1980s: El Chapo takes over Sinaloa cartel's Pacific operations

El Chapo is introduced to the Sinaloa cartel's leader, Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo (El Padrino), the godfather of the modern Mexican drug trade. He takes over operations for the Pacific coast. When El Chapo's boss is eventually arrested for the 1985 murder of an American Drug Enforcement Agency agent, he becomes the new number one man of the Mexican drug world.

1992: El Chapo starts a war in Tijuana

El Chapo begins to expand into Tijuana, encroaching on the Arellano Felix brothers of the Tijuana cartel and setting off a deadly gang war. Guzmán's cartel trafficks cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and meth. Eventually, the cartel is operating over five continents and grew to be the biggest drug operation in the world.

June 1993: El Chapo's first arrest... and escape

El Chapo flees across Mexico to Guatemala, where he's arrested and sentenced to 20 years for murder and trafficking. It is said he brought in cocaine and women behind bars through bribes and intimidation, turning the prison into a “five-star hotel.”El Chapo escapes from a maximum-security prison in a laundry cart. The escape costs him as much as $2.5 million, and results in the detention of 73 prison officials.

Early 2000s: US government hunt

Chapo becomes the primary drug target of the US government, who offers a $5 million reward for information. Chapo muscles into Tijuana and Gulf cartel territory, and open warfare breaks out.

2004: El Chapo slips away

The escalating violence renews attention from the US and Mexican authorities, which leads to at least two almost-captures of El Chapo. The Mexican army receives a tip-off that he is throwing a party. Despite being one of the most wanted men in the world, Guzmán reportedly threw a party "complete with cases of whiskey and a band, in a remote Mexican village to watch his 18-year-old girlfriend, Emma Coronel, win a local beauty contest," according to The Journal. It is also possible this was the date of their wedding. Helicopters arrive at a ranch that they suspect is owned by Chapo. "Every time he gets away, they tell us, 'He got out the back door,'" said one American official. "U.S. officials have started to joke that there is no word for 'surround' in Spanish."

May 2008: revenge killings after El Chapo's son is assassinated

El Chapo's son Edgar is killed in a parking lot shootout. The murder inspires a rash of revenge killings, and beheadings become a common sight throughout Sinaloa.

200: El Chapo makes Forbes list

Cartel members begin to use unlicensed drug-rehab centres as safe houses in Ciudad Juarez. In September, men stormed a rehab clinic in the city and murdered 17 patients – one of several similar attacks rumoured to be the work of the Sinaloa cartel. Forbes lists him as one of the most powerful people in the world and owning a net worth of $1 billion.

February 2014: El Chapo arrested. Again.

After 13 years on the run, El Chapo is arrested in Mazatlan. "I killed two or three thousand," Chapo told law enforcement. "I'm a drug trafficker. I don't kidnap or steal or extort or anything like that."

July 2015: El Chapo escapes. Again.

El Chapo escapes from a maximum-security prison through a tunnel under a shower. Chapo slips through an opening in his cell’s shower section, makes his way down a 30-foot ladder and travels through a tunnel network connecting his cell to a house that was still under construction about a mile away. The escape is estimated to have cost Guzmán $50 million in construction and bribes to prison officials. Chapo is now the target of a nationwide manhunt causing huge embarrassment for the government.

January 2016: El Chapo captured after Sean Penn interview

Chapo is captured in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, after months on the run in a dramatic episode involving a Mexican soap opera actress and US film star Sean Penn, who met with the drug boss in hiding. When Chapo was captured, the Mexican president posted the news on twitter. "Mission Accomplished," the President wrote. "We have him."